Change Your Life

Chapter 17: Love

Vani

"Sharife why would you dry her hair with a towel? You were supposed to use a T-shirt."

Te'a scolded Rife as she deep conditioned and twisted my hair. He rolled his eyes and picked up one of her basketballs, trying to spin it on his finger. We sat in her bedroom with Omar and Imani, the rest of the boys decided to let them comfort me in peace and they went to kick it at Alyn's house.

"Well shit I didn't know, I did put her bonnet on tho."

"Thank you baby, cause anybody else would've let me fall asleep without it." He leaned forward and pecked my lips, Te'a swatting him away as she finished the last twist.

As we sat in silence, my phone started ringing again. I gestured for Omar to toss it to me but he got up and walked it over to me instead. I had over 100 missed calls from Max, his parents, Marie, Ameil, Samuel, and Sammy. I tried to shut my phone off and I got a text from Marie.

TT Marie🎨🌈
Avani please let me know if you're safe

I know that you're mad at me and I don't blame you, just please let us know that you're safe with somebody

Brandon told us that you're someplace safe, I know he wouldn't lie to us but I need you to let me know that you're safe

Avani please

Te'a wrapped her arms around my neck and placed her head next to mine. I closed my eyes and felt Rife wipe a falling tear. I bit my lip and my breathing became ragged.

"Vani, you know we love you right? Like we damn near wanna replace Sharife with you and we'll jump him if he hurts your feelings, like deadass." I laughed and wiped my face.

"Yeah I know." I responded and she kissed my temple.

"Then you know that you can tell us anything and we won't judge you no matter how messed up it is." I opened my eyes to see Imani sitting in front of me and Omar and Sharife were on either side of her.

I took a deep breath and played with my fingers, laying my head on top of Te'a's.

"My aunt Marie is my biological momma."

The room was silent and you could hear a pin drop. Te'a moved her arms from my neck to my midsection and Imani got up and sat next to me, rubbing my back; Omar looked down at his hands, still in shock, and Sharife played with my nails, his feelings hurt for me.

"Gahdamn, I thought saying it would help me come to terms with it, but it still don't feel right." I said running one of my fingers under my eyes to catch tears.

"How did you find out?" Imani asked, laying her head on mine.

"Everybody was arguing when I got home and Sammy an' 'nem tried to keep her from telling me."

"Well, are you mad at Marie?" Omar questioned, tossing a mesh ball up in the air.

"I honestly don't know, she probably wanted to tell me for a while but she couldn't. Now it kinda makes sense why they would always argue around my birthday. She probably wanted to tell me and they stopped her from doing it like they tried to do today."

"I don't mean to be devil's advocate but there's probably a reason they didn't want her to tell you, at least not yet." Te'a said rubbing my side.

"I'm not even mad that they did it, I know it's a logical reason why, I'm mad that they lied about it for so long and they denied me the chance to get to know her as my mom. They lied to me my whole life, shit even Sammy knew. I don't know if I can forgive that just yet."